Ages:
Marco: 41
Ace: 27
?: 8
Marcy: 4

Relationship status: Happily married!

Almost certainly not the way how an actual adoption goes, but well, it's fiction!

Now that the CPS finally finished all of their visits and deemed their household to be a safe place, they were finally allowed to really start looking for a kid to adopt. They already needed to specify that they wanted a bit of an older child, since it did influence the inspections, the focus being a bit different if they needed to prepare for a baby or not.

Since they were approved, they finally had access to a list of children searching for a home, together with a case worker they were going through it to see if one spoke to them.

"So, what age group are you looking to adopt?" Their case worker questioned looking at the couple. The duo shared a look and nodded at each other, "Well, we have a daughter whose four and would like him or her to be older than her, thus anyone from five to nine or so would be great."
The woman nodded and filtered through the files. "Also, gender doesn't matter-yoi," Marco added "and neither does culture."

The worker smiled at them "That's very nice to hear, many don't even wish to see those from another culture."

Marco gave her a smile, "A person shouldn't be ignored based on where they come from." He rubbed his neck, "I have fourteen siblings myself and we were all adopted."

"Oh my haha, that's a lot more than one usually adopts, but it is very nice to see someone helping children find a home and that you continue it by adopting too." The lady hummed and started typing on her computer "Give me a moment please, to pull up a list of children on the waiting list." Not long later, the woman turned around one of her screens that showed a picture of a child with basic info next to it.

Marco pulled his glasses out to look at the information, together with Ace they were scrolling for a while, the worker giving more info on the child's character traits, things to be careful of and such.
"This boy has been in and out of foster care for nearly five years." The woman explained, as they read over the information. "He just turned eight."

In a questioning tone Ace asked why he keeps coming back into their care and doesn't stay in a family, had it never been a full adoption? The lady rubbed the back of her neck "Yes... no... He's been in families that wanted to adopt him, but by the time it is time to actually verify the papers, everyone declined signing since Austin is a bit... He can be a lot at times. He's never had a real chance to grown up in a family and thus lacks a lot of ... well... social cues on how to properly behave. In the end no one wanted to keep him and with no papers finalized he will always be returned to us. So, if you do wish to see him as an option, please do keep all of this in mind, it is a lot for him too to 'get adopted' only to get brought back here."

Marco and Ace nodded at the explanation and went further through the list, both of their minds however kept going back to Austin, which they also mentioned to each other when the lady left them for a bit to think things over.

"What do you think love?" Marco asked, he had already thought about it, but Ace would be the one home with him the most. Everyone has a speed they learn things at, and Austin's just might be a bit behind and would need a lot more attention.

"Well, they all seem like lovely kids, but..." Ace fidgeted a bit with his fingers "Ehm, I keep thinking back to Austin. Getting kicked out of the house so many times, people not wanting to take the time to teach him stuff..." He thought back to his own not so fun childhood, Garp only passed him off to Dadan, so kind of one family switch before he lived alone, and he understood now that it was because of Garp's work that staying with him would be difficult, but it still hurt to not feel accepted by him and get pushed off to someone else. "I... I want to try and give him a home, and I am home most of the time so I would have time to watch him you know. But I get it if you would want someone else, you already have such a busy schedule, if you then need to come to home to maybe... you know... lots of misbehaving..."

Marco looked at his husband and smiled as he took his hand to kiss it. "We'll make sure he never has to come back here again."

Smiling brightly Ace hummed happily. Not long later the lady came back in "Did you have some time to think? You don't need to make any decisions right now if you wish to have more time to discuss." After sharing a look, Marco took the word "It's fine-yoi. We would love to meet Austin if possible"

The woman blinked, "Are ... are you sure?" They both nodded and she nodded slowly in return. "Very well. Please follow me." They stood up and followed the woman to another room before she left to get Austin.

They were brought to a simple room with a table and chairs, they kept standing until their worker came back five minutes later with a boy, his arms crossed over his chest.

The boy seemed to observe them both for a moment before stopping at Ace and making a weird face.

"Why the fuck is he so light?" the young boy questioned, looking at Ace's light skin tone that was covered in freckles. He himself had almond covered skin and thick black short hair.

"Austin! You don't say that, apologize!" The social worker scolded, looking down at the boy who said nothing in return. She raised her head herself and looking apologetically to the couple. "I'm terribly sorry about that."

Marco looked at his husband who just laughed and waved it off, not seeming bothered by the comment. "It's fine, don't worry about it." He looked to Austin and smiled, "I got it from my mom. Or well, that's what Gramps told me anyways, I never met her myself."

The boy was about to open his mouth, but the lady quickly talked first, not knowing if the boy would make another inappropriate remark, "Austin, this is Marco and his husband Ace." She introduced them, "they wanted to meet with you and were thinking of adopting you. They also have a daughter whose four right now."

Austin stared hard at them, Ace swallowed at it, feeling a bit nervous that maybe the kid didn't like them, or him because he looks different than him. The boy squinted his eyes "... You're two dudes... You can't have a child."

The worker gasped at the mean sounding tone and started to call for him, only for Austin to simply continue. "You adopted her too?"

Marco blinked, well at least that's one child he doesn't have to explain to how babies are made and where they come from. "Let's sit down, shall we?" The worker indicated to the table and chairs, hoping to interrupt the current topic. Sitting down Ace gave Marco a side glance as Austin took a seat next to the worker who was scolding him. Austin huffed before mumbling, "She probably doesn't bring in enough money anymore." He knew families got some money from the state when they adopted, all his previous adoption parents had gotten it even if none had ever been spend on him.

"Austin, please beha-!"

"Actually-yoi" the blond interrupted "Ace is her biological father." He said kindly while looking to Austin. "My sister carried her for us. Although I have no biological connection to her, she's still my daughter." He pulled his phone out and showed his lock screen. It was a picture of him, Ace and Marcy at the local park.

They saw how the child's eyes softened at the sight, longing visible in it before they hardened again. "Hmpfh." he huffed again, with it seemingly being the only comeback he could come up with, he turned back to Ace, "you're so light. Are you sure you're not sick?" He questioned at Ace.

Ace gave a small chuckle, "No. I'm neutrally light. If I stay in the sun too long, I tend to burn. Marco's a doctor so he tends to make sure both myself and our daughter wear enough sunscreen to protect ourselves"

The child looked confused at them. Why were they still simply answering him with a laugh, as if nothing was wrong? By now most couples would already start looking at him with mean, disgusted, eyes and ask time to think, only to never come back for him. "... Okay ..."

"Asking questions is fine. Do you have any more? We want you to be comfortable-yoi." Marco said as he saw the child's reaction.

"... No?" He was really confused right now, why where they acting so nice, he knows they're just in it for the money or something, the families he's been in that already had a kid were always the worst. Everything that should have been to take care of him, always went to the other child while he was forgotten. They didn't even need to actually be nice to him to get the center to send him to them, since they're here they already passed those weird visit things. "You guys are weird" he mumbled not knowing what to say.

"Yea, sorry, my only social interaction is with the moms at the park, my stream chats and our four-year-old." The raven scratched his neck. The boy however ignored him and fired another question, this one at the blond. "Why do you look like a pineapple?"

As soon as the words left Austin's mouth, Ace started laughing and hit his husband on the back, close to tears from laughter. "hahaha Marco, I told you, I told you, you look like a pineapple hahahha even the kid sees it hahah. Hey Austin, did you even know that it's this man's favorite fruit? Maybe the amount he ate transformed him into it hahahhahahaha"

Not expecting that reaction Austin had to cover his mouth to avoid laughing at Ace.

Seeing it brought a smile to their face and Marco decided to play along with it for a bit. He squeezed Ace's cheeks "Well, excuse me mister freckles, you do seem to like this pineapple head-yoi, or you wouldn't have married me. So, it has its charms apparently."

Ace laughed at his husband. "Definitely your personality. Your pineapple head is the icing on the cake." Austin kept his hands over his mouth during the whole interaction. They were funny, but were they just putting on a show? It was still making him laugh though.

Laughing at Ace's remark he wanted to react, but before he could, a clearing of a throat got their attention, the lady looking at both of them. Ace blushed a bit while Marco scratched the back of his neck "Ah, sorry about that-yoi. ehm, where were we?"

"Austin," she looked to the young boy. "Do you want to go and spend the night at their house? You'll be coming back here on Monday after school."

"Huh, already?" Ace questioned "Not that we don't want to! But I thought we would need to come a few times for Austin to like... want to come with us?"

"Well, since it's Friday today, he could stay the weekend, and from this interaction I already deem it a good moment."

For the first time in this visit, Austin seemed a bit shy and unsure, losing his stern look he had been trying to hold up as he looked between the adults "I ehm... I want to try and spend the weekend with them... if that's okay."

Marco gave him a smile. "We would love to have you come over-yoi. Our daughter's at my Pop's place for the weekend."

Austin gave a tiny nod at it and the worker sent him away to get some stuff ready that he would need for the weekend, as well as his schoolbag. While away, the worker gave some more info about Austin and how this would work. They would be expected to bring Austin to school and make sure he finishes any tasks he had for it. The worker herself would come to get him from school and talk with the boy on how the visit went. In the same manner she would contact them to ask the same. Depending on all answers, they would schedule more meetings or not.

Ace nodded, "I'll drive him to school since I will need to pick up our daughter and bring her to daycare anywhere."

The worker nodded and gave them some paperwork to sign so everything was in order and documented. When signing the last papers, Austin walked back in with a tiny bag and an obvious schoolbag.

Marco looked over at him, "All set?"

The boy looked nervous but tried to hide it "yea, I got everything." Smiling Marco and Ace got up and said goodbye to the worker, Marco taking Austin's bags from him while they walked to the car.

Ace looked at Austin, "You want to sit in the front?" Austin looked at him, he never got to sit in the front seat.

"Ehm... isn't... isn't the front for the adults?"

"Not always-yoi." Marco said closing the trunk, having put the bags in there. Ace was already adjusting the seat so there was still room for himself to sit behind it and Austin would sit closer to the dashboard.

Austin looked between them and watched on in slight awe how Ace even adjusted the seat for him. With one more look between them he approached the car with slow steps before getting in, expecting them to yell at him to get out at any moment... but... it never came. Marco simply leaned in to buckle him up and close the door before getting in himself.

Ace got in the back next to the car seat for Marcy. As they pulled out of the parking lot, Marco looked to Austin. "What do you feel like having for supper?"

"Ehm... whatever you have is fine... and if it's nothing just water is fine too..."

Marco blinked and looked at Ace in the mirror before looking back to the road. He remembered back when he was in the orphanage, they only fed them the same thing every day.

"What do you like on your pizza?" Ace suddenly asked from the back seat.

"Pizza? The round bread? Ehm, I think we had it at school like every now and then, but it's always just bread with some tomato and cheese, you can have other stuff on it?"

"You can get pretty much whatever you want."

"Do you have any allergies-yoi?" Marco asked in between them as he pulled into a pizza place and parked the car in a spot. Yes, he could have looked over the paperwork, and he had, but he would rather hear it from Austin too.

"No, not that I know of. Ehm" he looked at Marco's head for a moment "Pineapple on pizza?"

"He already has the same taste as you Marco!" The blond shook his head as his husband but laughed, "Yea, you can get pineapple if you want."

Austin nodded his head "I want to try"

"Alright. Did you want to have any meats on it? Veggies? Peppers?" he gave a chuckle "And don't worry about if you don't like it, Ace will eat anything."

"Maybe some meat..." Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Ace make a list and type it down before looking at him expectantly to say something else. Was it really okay to ask for more? "Ehm... and... mushrooms..."

"That's it? Okay then, I'll be back soon." The raven got out and jogged up to the pizza place to place their order, going for take-out.

In the meanwhile, Marco decided to ask some more questions, "What time do you normally go to bed-yoi? Any routine you normally follow?"

"It's lights off around 10 at the latest in the adoption center. I try to finish homework after school, before supper... Ehm that's it?"

"Alright, did you want to take a shower or bath before bed or in the morning?" He found ten a little late for an 8-year-old to be going to bed, but that could just be his doctor side.

"I already had a shower in the morning today. Normally I have a small shower Sunday. We always skip a day to save some water."

Marco nodded, "Alright then, that's fine-yoi. We can work on your homework after supper."

The boy blinked "You will help me?"

"Huh? Of course, Ace or I can help you. Sometimes it may take us a few tries to understand what assignment is, not having been in school for a while, but we'll do our best to help."

"Oh... Thank you ..."

Marco smiled at him, "if you have a question just let us know",

Austin nodded, these people really seemed a lot nicer than the other's from before.

He was on his way to thank him again when the backdoor opened "I got them! Let's go!"

Marco laughed and started the car while Austin was looking at the stack of pizzas. Were they having people over? Should he have declined coming? Ace smiled made sure to put his seat belt on. "I got garlic fingers too." Marco chuckled at Austin's expression. "Ace likes food, he tends to eat a lot "

Austin just numbly nodded. That still seemed a lot for liking food... But he wouldn't mention it, not really knowing them or how they act.

Not long later they arrived at their house.
"We'll eat first then show you around." Ace said as he got out of the car and picked up the pizza boxes while Marco went to the trunk and got Austin's bags out, before leading him up to the house.

They brought Austin in, and he saw Ace rubbing his neck next to the kitchen table "I'm sorry, we ehm, we didn't expect you to come already so we didn't clean up especially for it."

Even when Ace said they hadn't cleaned, it wasn't dirty at all. As Austin looked around he only saw some toys scattered around, probably from the daughter they mentioned, a few laundry baskets full of clothes some folded some not, but nothing that's actually dirty. But the items laying around for some reason made him happy to see.

He vaguely hear Marco ask a question and turned to him, seeing him holding some plates and glasses, "huh?"

"What would you like to drink Austin-yoi? We have milk, chocolate milk, orange juice, apple juice, and water."

"Just water is fine... please"

Marco nodded and got three waters and set them down on the table. While Marco had fixed the drinks, Ace had been working on the pizzas, opening the boxes to show all different kinds and setting up the table with plates and napkins. Ace pointed to the seat at the head of the table for Austin to sit.

"I can eat with you two?" Most of the times the other families would eat before him, and he ate alone afterwards or was given something to eat in his room.

"Of course, you can!" Ace said smiling, "Sitting down at the table for supper as a family is probably my favorite part of the day."

Marco smiled, "If you're not comfortable you're more than welcome to sit on the couch to eat, just be careful not to spill."

He didn't know what to stay, he felt pressure behind his eyes, he didn't want to cry for something stupid like this... And he still couldn't get his hopes up. He wasn't adopted yet. This could be his only weekend with them. And even after, it could still be an act until the adoption was finished...

But... This was nice... He couldn't stop a small smile from spreading on his face as he pulled the chair backwards and climbed on it, sitting down with Ace and Marco each at another side of him

As they all started eating, Marco's phone went off.
"I'll be right back." He said and stood up and went over to the other of the room. Ace watched him for a moment, he shouldn't be call this weekend. He came back over a few minutes later and sat down.

"Everything alright?"

"Yes-yoi. There was slightly issue with a patient but it's all good."

"You don't need to leave, right?" If it was super important, he would leave even when not on call, it would be a real pity for it to happen when Austin was here

Marco shook his head. "No. I can just update their file after-yoi. The nurse will send me the details and I'll fix up everything later." He gave Austin a light smile at his confused expression.

"Unfortunately, if I'm on call I may have to leave right away to deal with an emergency, no matter what we're doing here at home. And sometimes in a really bad case they may call all doctors in to help, on call or not."

He didn't fully get what on call meant by it all, only that he sometimes needed to leave. Anyway, he had a more important question. "You're a doctor...? Do you have those shiny disks for on your forehead?"

Marco gave chuckle, "Yea, at the hospital. They help reflect light so we can see. But we don't use them too much anymore since we also have head lamps that we use."

Ace smiled at their interaction before getting up to get more pizza.

Stars appeared in Austin's eyes "Like the movies!"

The laughed, "Something like that yea haha. A lot of doctors don't use them anymore since they can be hard to use though-yoi."

"You should put them on anyway! To look coo- ah... I- I'm sorry" he hadn't meant to yell, much less talk back to Marco. He was just getting caught up in the atmosphere. He closed his eyes and apologized again.

Marco laughed at his excitement, and smiled "It's fine Austin, really." He noticed the reaction and kept his voice gentle, he knew lots of people had excited reactions about hem, "They are pretty much obsolete now, so we don't get them anymore. But every once and a while we'll have an old-time doctor and that's what they use."

He opened his eyes, Marco hadn't seemed mad. He nodded at the explanation and stared at his pizza for a while before silently eating another slice.

When everyone was done eating, Ace stood up and collected the plates and glasses and set them in the sink with the few dishes from lunch before putting the pizza that was left over on plates, put some plastic wrap over them and then put them in the fridge.

Marco looked to Austin, "If you need the bathroom, that's just off the living room. He pointed over to a door that was slightly opened.

Austin nodded and looked around a bit. The table had been cleared and wiped off. And Ace had excused himself to make a bed for him in the guestroom.

"Ehm, is it okay if I put my school stuff on here. To make homework?"

"Of course you can-yoi." The blond smiled at him as he went to the living room to pick up Marcy's toys and put them in the toy basket that they belonged in.

After Following Marco with his eyes for a bit, he went to get his bag and put his stuff on the table, making sure to be quiet.

Not long later Ace had come back down and had started to work on folding the laundry that had still been out, Marco also joining him as soon as the toys were cleaned.

While working in Austin carefully watched the duo and what they did. They seemed... Normal? Helping each other finishing chores.
But ... he looked at the last few exercises, math. They were learning the timetables. The small numbers kind of went okay... But even if it was the same, he found the uneven ones very difficult to get. He glared at the exercise asking for the timetable of 3. Marco had said he would help but... He didn't really dare to interrupt the duo. They seemed to have fun even with chores.

At some point Marco had gotten up and disappeared with some laundry into a still unknown room. When he returned he passed by Austin. "How's your homework?" he questioned as he looked over his shoulder. "Oh you're learning the time-tables-yoi? Once you get the hang of them, they gets easier."

Without question Marco had taken a seat next to the boy who had seemed a bit unsure. He had seen that, while writing continuously before, it had changed to putting his pen down, but not writing anything, before changing location and doing the same thing.

"One second." The blond stood up and went over to a some drawers. Taking a few pieces of paper out and a pencil, he brought them over to the table. "Here we can practice on these so your workbook doesn't get messy." Humming he wrote down an multiplication "Let's start with this one, 1 x 3"

Austin was a tiny by overwhelmed that Marco came to sit with him and had even gotten out stuff to help him, not even looking bothered by it. While stumped, he still answered the question. "Ehm 3 x 1... is 3?"

Marco nodded, "right." He had written down the next two questions "2 x 3?" from the corner of his eyes he saw that his husband had stretched out on the couch for a little nap, he smiled at it but kept focus on Austin.

"5"

"Close, but no. Good try." He gave him an encouraging smiling. "Can you try again, or explain how you reached 5?"

"Ehm I ... Ehm" he gripped his pen while looking at the numbers before him. Staring at them as if the answer would appear. Glancing at Marco was a mistake, he had a soft smile, wordlessly telling him he could do it, but it only made his mind more empty of solutions. "I..I ... Ehm" in a soft voice he spoke "I don' know".

"That's okay." Marco said and wrote with his pencil on the sheet of paper. "What about 3 + 3?"

Austin blinked at suddenly being asked a sum. He knows sums. He counted a bit om his fingers "6"

"Right." Marco nodded and pointed to the two 3's of the addition. "How many times do we count 3's together here?"

"... two times?"

"Indeed" he pointed back to the multiplication "and how many times do we take the 3 over here?"

"Two times... also two times."

Marco smiled as he could see that Austin was slowly getting where he was going with this. "Very good, thus, two times three is?"

"Two three's... Two times three... Is six?"

"Perfect, Great job."

Austin smiled and wrote down the answer behind Marco's writing. Looking up to him for the next question.

Thanks to Marco not making a big deal out if things, simply explaining something if he had trouble, he started to relax and lose his nerves, somehow, somehow he had fun doing his math homework! He never expected 'fun' and 'math' to be in the same sentence, but here we are.

After math was done, Marco looked at him, "what else do you have to do?"

"Ehm wait," searching through his bag, Austin looked for his agenda, opening it to next week. "Ehm, I need to read a small part in my book, for English, and find some answers in it. Ehm, that's it for Monday."

Marco nodded, "You can do your reading before bed if you would like, or you do that tomorrow night."

"I will try later and... Ask tomorrow... To check it?"

"Sure." Marco nodded and started the gather the sheets they had used for math and handed them to Austin to keep, it was often a nice review to see how they got to an answer, see the steps in between.

Moments later a buzzer went off throughout the house and a yell accompanied it, "I'm up!" the one who had been sleeping on the couch shouted as he got up.

Chuckling at his husband he stood up "We'll show you around, you can leave your bags here for now, don't worry about the sound, it was the dryer." He looked over to Ace, "Why don't you show Austin where you work, darling."

Ace gave a grin. "Sure!"

"We're leaving the house?"

"Nope. I work at home." He pointed his thumb to a closed door. "I am a online streamer of video game." He explained as he walked over to the door and opened it.

Austin's eyes opened wide, "Video games, for work?!" He ran after Ace, stopping the moment he could see inside the room, too stunned to speak.

Ace chuckled, "Yea. I've been doing this for several years." He held the door opened so Austin could walk in. One side of the room had a couch with a TV and in the middle of the room was his desk with his set up, shelves lining the walls filled with hundreds of games, figures and walls covered in posters.

"Wwooooow! This is so cool!" Austin ran up to the games shelf, looking between them and calling some out that he knew. Stars were shining in his eyes at everything around him.

He saw a figurine of... Eevee and brought his hand up to touch it. Only to stop short and look towards Ace, he didn't know if he was allowed to touch it.

"You can touch it, just be careful."

Austin nodded and gently touched it. It was so cool! He never saw these up close! He couldn't hold in a laugh as he petted the little creature.

Ace smiled at the reactions and looked at Marco, they both had a feeling he would like this. "Now remember. While cool, this is also the place where I work. When I have the door shut, it means I am working, so, unless there's an emergency, I would like it if you don't run inside. If you need me for something, I have a button right outside the door that you can press, it give me a notification and makes my phone vibrate. It might take me a minute, but I will come out to check. This room itself is soundproof, so you don't need to be extra quiet when I'm working, but it also means I won't be able to hear you if you yell for me outside, which is why we installed the button."

"It's a doorbell inside haha"

"It practically is haha. Now, how about we show you the rest of the house?"

Austin nodded and walked outside, waiting for Ace to close the door and show him where to go.

"It is not like this room is off-limits to others besides me, but since it is my workplace, I would like for you to ask before entering here, and do be careful of the things inside when you come in." As Austin nodded at his explanation, a little down he didn't get to be in the gaming room, Ace smiled at him "We also have some consoles in the living room, we can all still play so don't worry about that. It's more like, don't just waltz in and move all the stuff around or take games out of the room without asking for them. I keep them all organized for my streams and some games only have one saving spot I need for work." Seeing the boy got it and looked happy, he led Austin up the steps, picking up the basket of Marcy's clothes, Marco following behind them.

"On the right is the bathroom, next to it is Marcy's, our daughter's, room, next to that is your room. And on the left is Marco's office and our bedroom." He pointed to each room.

"I thought Marco worked in the hospital?"

"I do-yoi. But I can also do some work from home. I keep most of my medical textbooks in there and store Marcy's seasonal clothes." Marco explained

"Oh okay."

They lead him to his room, it was pretty plain with a single bed in it and a dresser. "We can re-paint the room later to a color you like." Marco said looking at the young boy.

"It's okay, it's nice" and he meant it. It was a decently sized room, and the bed looks comfy. Seeing it however, somehow sparked him to yawn, tiredness going through his body. He was sure he wasn't tired before...

"It's been a busy day. Why don't you grab your bag, brush your teeth, and get ready for bed-yoi?"

Nodding, he rubbed his eyes and walked back the way they came to go grab his stuff. Slightly looking around to re-locate where everything was and wanted to go to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

"Ah" he looked around "I thought this was the bathroom..."

Marco chuckled as he put away some of Marcy's folded clothes in her dresser, "next door over. It's fine."

"Thank you"

Walking out he closed the door and tried the next one. This time finding the right room.

After brushing his teeth, he washed his face and put on his pyjamas before going to his room. He put down his bag and walked to the bed, stopping before getting in '... should he go say goodnight or something?'

Marco had poked his head in, "ready for bed?" He noticed that his PJs seemed a little short on him but paid no mind to it. "Did you want some water to keep next to you in case you get thirsty?"

"Ehn if that's allowed, I would like that."

"I'll go grab you a glass." leaving the room, he left the door open slightly before going downstairs and getting a glass of water for him, seeing Ace folding the towels. "Austin's going to bed."
"Alright" the freckled one got up and followed the other up the stairs. They didn't want him to feel uncomfortable in anyway, so they tread carefully.

"Here you go Austin" Marco handed over the glass, telling him he can put it on the nightstand before wishing him goodnight. Ace followed suit, also letting him know he can come to their room if there's anything he wanted or needed, no matter the time.

Austin nodded slowly before setting the water on the nightstand, as the men left, leaving the door slightly ajar, Austin rested his head on the soft pillow. He wasn't used to this. This kindness was foreign to him, but it was nice... really nice.

To make sure the boy would find the bathroom at night, Marco made sure to switch their nightlight on in the hallway and one in the bathroom.

The weekend had gone far quicker than Marco and Ace expected. They were both up, Ace setting up the breakfast table while Marco was preparing a to leave for work after it. They would already need to say goodbye to Austin very soon.

Austin came down the stairs with his school- and overnight bag and left them by the door before he made his way over and sat down at the table. He found Ace did a lot of the cooking over the weekend and now he was making pancakes.

"Good morning, Austin, did you sleep well? Did you pack everything, nothing forgotten?" Ace asked while flipping some of the pancakes.

"Uh- yes. Thank you." This was probably the last time he was going to be here. "I just need my toothbrush. I can get that after I'm done eating."

Ace smiled, "Alright, you can sit down already and take some. I'm almost done"

Nodding he sat down and took one pancake and poured him self some water.

Marco had come into room and looked at Austin, smiling as he sat down, taking a few pancakes for himself. "Thank you, Ace, for the meal." The blond said as he started to eat.

They mostly ate in silence, Ace and Marco smiling when Austin would look at them.

Not long after the meal, Marco announced he had to leave for work, passing by Ace to give a kiss and said his goodbye before going to Austin.

"Austin, I personally really enjoyed your stay this weekend. I hope you had a good time too-yoi."

"I-." He looked down at his plate, "I did. Thank you."

"That's great." Marco smiled and gave a short ruffle through his hair before he was off.

"Well, guess it's just the two of us for another hour before we need to leave." Ace mentioned as he kept on eating once the other had left.

In the meantime, Austin was blushing at the table, still feeling Marco's warm hand on his head as he had ruffled his hair. No one did that. Other than his friends.

"You can have another pancake. You want to have the energy to play at school, right?"

Nodding he took another one. Making sure to savour the taste, as well as these last minutes he may have in Ace's presence.

When they were done, Ace automatically gathered the dishes and started to wash them, "Oh, did you get your reading assignment done?"

"I did. Marco even checked it for me when you were asleep yesterday. He said it was well done." he blushed a little more at the last words.

"Good to hear" he smiled, "So, what do you have for classes today?"

"hmmm ehm English, math, music, sports, ehm I think that's about it. Monday is a fun day. Ehm can I help? With cleaning?"

"Sure. Just be careful." He handed a towel to the boy, indicating to dry the items handed to him.

Already having done the dishes, they were now working on the last glasses. He looked up at Ace who was humming a song, he would miss this. He reached for a new glass to dry, but it was more slippery than he imagined and it slipped for his hands and shattered to the ground. The sound echoing in the now silent house, humming stopping instantly.

"Ah" Austin froze in place. He broke it. Ace had said to be careful, and he still broke their stuff. Tears sprung in his eyes, they'll never want to see him again now.

He quickly crouched down while apologizing, saying he will clean it while he reached for the shards with trembling hands.

Spinning around Ace got down next to him stopping him from picking up the pieces. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" And without meaning to, he picked the boy up and set him down a bit away from the broken glass. He had noticed that he was trembling and was near tears. "It's okay, Austin. It's fine. Really. It's just a glass it's no big deal I promise."

Austin clutched to Ace's arm after having been picked up "N-noo, you said, you said be careful and I-I still broke it. I'm sorry!"

"It's alright. I only said to be careful because I didn't want you to get hurt." Ace hushed him, "But you're not hurt, are you? No glass in your hands or in your feet or socks?"

"I'm fine" he looked at his feet for glass "I-I don't think so"

He sighed a relief "Alright. As long as you're okay." Giving a smile he continued, "Go get your shoes, I don't want you stepping in any glass, and than we'll clean this up together, okay? I'll already get the broom."

Austin nodded and slowly released Ace's arm and went to put on his shoes.

Getting back, he saw Ace already sweeping. He stood nearby, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

Ace looked to him and held out a dustpan. "Just hold this still on the floor please." Austin nodded and held the pan steady as the other slowly swept the broken pieces up. "There we go, everyting is all cleaned up now, nothing to worry about. Now, it's just about time for school so why don't you go brush your teeth, alright?" Ace said gently as Austin dumped the shards into the garbage, handing back the dustpan, the boy went to get ready for school. Still a tiny bit shook that this happened, even if Ace said that it was okay. Once done, he sat at the kitchen table until Ace came back downstairs from brushing his own teeth.

Ace's eyes took a bit of a downturn as he saw the child sitting at the table, looking like a kicked puppy. He kneeled in front of him and called his name for him to look at him "Austin, in no way am I mad at you for what happened. Accidents happen, you didn't mean for it. And, it's just a glass, it can be replaced."

Scanning the grey eyes before him, Austin nodded, no lie or hate for him to be seen.

The older one patted his leg and got up, "Let's get you to school."

After taking a few breaths, the boy slowly got up and walked out with Ace. He was once again allowed to sit in the front and Ace helped him with his buckle. They drove for a few minutes before already pulling into the parking lot, the school not being far.

Ace got out and got the bags from the back seat, giving them to Austin after he got out.

"... Thank you for the fun weekend... Goodbye" Austin turned around to leave but Ace called after him.

"Austin wait."

Looking back he walked back over, thinking he may have forgotten something. "Y-Yes?"

Ace knew this may be too quick and there was a chance this would make Austin more uncomfortable than anything, but he couldn't just let him leave like this. Looking as if this was the end and he would never see them again, all because he dropped a silly glass.

He stepped forward, closing the distance between them and crouched before loosely hugging the 8-year-old. Putting one hand on his head for a brief moment before pulling back but leaving the hand.

Smiling he spoke gently, "Austin, just like Marco, I've had a great time this weekend with you. There's not a single moment where I've regretted letting you stay over. Thank you for accepting to stay with us over the weekend."

Austin wasn't sure what to do. He had really liked the past few days with them, he hadn't wanted to mention anything on it but... "C-can we... do it again? Maybe... with your daughter?" he stumbled over his words as Ace's hand was still on his head, it felt nice. Just like when Marco had ruffled his hair.

"I would love for you to come over again, I'm sure Marco won't mind it either. Marcy will babble your head off to play with her haha"

He didn't really have much experience with little girls but... he wanted to try. To be a part of a family. "When... when Will I see you guys again?"

Ace's smile fell a tiny bit "I'm sorry, I don't know when we'll be allowed to visit you again or when you can join us again for a while. Your adoption center will review how this visit went and decisions will be made based on that if we may come again to see you... They told us it could take up to a couple of weeks to hear back depending on how busy they have it and if they deem this a good visit or not."

Austin frowned at it and wanted to reply, but a ringing sound stopped him.
"That's the bell."
His eyes widened as Ace's sadden words filled his ears. He didn't want to leave them yet.

He only knew Austin for 3 days, but it broke his heart to see him looking so sad. He couldn't help but pull him into another quick hug, "We'll try and get in contact as soon as we can. I promise." Pulling back he ruffled his hair before getting up and giving a smile, "off to school you go now, have a great day, Austin."

Reluctantly, the boy nodded and ran off to the school, looking back one last time as he went inside.

Only when Austin was long gone did Ace stop waving. With a sigh, he got inside the car and drove towards Pop's place to get Marcy, glancing every now and then at the now empty passenger seat beside him, it already felt empty without the boy there.

Even if he already missed him, and it had not been fun to see Austin sad, it did make him happy that Austin seemed to like them, at least enough to even want to return and spend time with them, with their daughter. He would be sure to give Marco the good news when he returned home.